Airlines Can Profit from Being Smart, But Being Smarter Can Help Them Own the Journey
Photo Credit: Mike Rhodin (left), senior vice president, IBM Watson Group, and Terry Jones, founder of Travelocity and founding chairman of Kayak, get set to announce the launch of WayBlazer on October 7, 2014. IBM / Jon Simon
Skift Take
Whether it’s airlines which capitalise on artificial intelligence capabilities, or another sector of the travel industry, smart queries and solutions-oriented replies are the next logical step for the future of everything.
Terry Jones wants airlines to follow him down a new path, which, he says, could help airlines move beyond being transport providers to single-source travel services companies, by capitalizing on the inherent flaws of the travel search process.
Jones, who started out as a travel agent, worked as a CIO at American Airlines/Sabre, was CEO of Travelocity, and was founding chairman of Kayak, has transitioned into artificial intelligence with Wayblazer. It is a travel insights platform that capitalizes on IBM Watson’s natural language and unstructured data processing capabilities to move beyond travel search to intelligent travel planning.
Been Searching So Long
“We know search changed everything, but search only gives you clues. If you ask Google for the best hotel in Hawaii, it will give you 58 million answers. That's not an answer, it's a clue,” he told airline attendees at the IATA World Passenger Summit in Hamburg last month.
Wayblazer can compile travel plan suggesti
